QLS hosted the 3rd ISQALE (Improving Standards of Quality in Adult Education) project meeting on 25th & 26th October in Athens at the premises of the Hellenic American Union.
Project partners from different countries met to discuss ideas, share expertise and make decisions on items set on the agenda.
On the second day two important presentations were held, one by John Petropoulos featuring "International language certification options and opportunities: The case of Educational Testing Service (ETS®) testing products" and a second by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Galya Mateva, OPTIMA Chair, highlighting important aspects of the "European Profiling Grid for language teachers".
Project partners are going to meet again in Bucharest to discuss the next stages of the project.
Participants had the chance to visit the new Acropolis Museum, where they admired the outstanding exhibits, taste the Greek cuisine and experience the legendary Greek hospitality. Such partnerships develop relationships among different nationals and promote understanding and respect.
Description of the ISQALE project
Project Partners
• OPTIMA, The Bulgarian Association For Quality Language Services - Bulgaria (Project Coordinator),
• QUEST Romania, The Romanian Association for Quality Language Services - Romania,
• QLS, The Panhellenic Association of Accredited Quality Language Schools – Greece,
• University of Zaragoza, Department of English and German Studies – Spain
• Associate Partner: The Croatian Chamber of Economy, The Association for Foreign Languages, Croatia
The Project involves the development and implementation of quality assurance approaches in language education. It explores the needs, country specific requirements and best practices in the partners' institutions.
Building on these findings, it will propose a set of indicators and procedures aimed at enhancing the quality of language teaching and lifelong learning of adults.
The main content areas will include quality and innovation management, CEFR based curricula and testing, teaching, and personal/professional development, achieved communicative and crosscultural competence, self-learning and, European values-driven lifelong learning, etc.
Such an approach will better meet the expectations of the economic community, empowering professionals (learners, teachers, managers and assessors) to perform adequately in an international context and to successfully participate in transnational mobility programmes and other communication exchanges.
Project Aims
• To benchmark the existing experience and generate new ideas for quality language education of adults in the context of new economic challenges.
• To develop unified requirements for quality assurance in language schools and departments in a way, which impacts formal and informal education, and combines the regional specificity with the common European standards.
• To contribute to a sustainable quality enhancement of foreign languages services and of adult education management in the participating countries.
The final outcome is the creation of a common Quality Improvement Scheme, which will maintain and enhance quality standards through (self) assessment in language education and can be used as a quality awareness tool in new educational contexts.
